How to Make Personal Training Your Full Time Job

Real Stories from Real Personal Trainers

How Jane went from 0 to 120 members in 8 months

Jane is a personal trainer from Leeton, a small town in southern New South Wales, and mum of 2 incredible children under 5. She already had enough to handle with her young and growing family, but she also saw a need to help women in her area, and an idea emerged to start her own personal training business. Little did she know that in just 8 months, she’d not only change her life and her family’s, but also those of 120 women in her community.

Her incredible story

December 2017, it was an idea with no members. She was a personal trainer with little time on her hands looking after her 2 kids and her family. She knew how hard it gets for trainers to make a stable income out of PT sessions having to deal with last minute cancellations and keeping track of clients with 10 packs, plus the extra time needed for planning workouts and the money to spend on equipment.

But still there was a need in her small community, especially for women, to have access to more fitness options and her idea quickly turned into a project that needed to see the light of day. She couldn’t believe what happened next.

“I started with 0 members, then in a month it grew to 53 participants and 8 months later in August, my 10-week program was sold out before it started with 120 participants.”

Juggling her family life, time was of the essence and, of course, she wanted to leverage her time as best as possible whilst reaching as many women as possible. She created a program that catered for both fitness levels, intermediates and beginners, and only working 2 hours in the morning, 5 days a week.

“I work from 5:30 am to 7:30 am. They’re LOVING IT! and I’m loving it too.”

“8 months ago, it was an idea with no members.” “I’ve just finished my first week of round 3 which is sold out with 120 members.” “That’s it, 0 to 120 members in 8 months!!”

5 secrets to Jane’s success

Secret 1:

Run a bootcamp or group sessions instead of one on one sessions to leverage your time.

Secret 2:

Ditch 10 packs and get everyone on weekly direct debits. This will avoid last minute cancellations and chasing after clients for payment.

Secret 3:

Run 10- or 12-week programs and get clients to commit to pay for the whole 12-week challenge, while adding value like home programs and weekly challenges.

Secret 4:

Advertise on social media 2 weeks prior to the start of your program and organise a ‘bring a friend’ week halfway through. Advertising 2 weeks before creates urgency to sign up and letting your participants bring a friend, promotes your business for free by people your prospects love and trust.

Secret 5:

Use the rest of your time when you’re not promoting your bootcamp to work on connecting with your clients and focusing on your workouts to make it fun for your participants. This will skyrocket your retention rates.

How Jane did it and how you can do it too

Jane completed the Bootcamp level 1 and level 2 course by Fitness Education Online. These online courses are designed to show you step by step how to run a successful bootcamp in your area covering from how to structure, charge, advertise, sell, manage, and run your business. These courses also give you access to an endless pool of workout ideas.

“In late 2017, I saw a need in my town for a ‘ladies only’ bootcamp. I had a few ideas of how to start it up, but I went through Bootcamp level 1 and 2, and followed step by step through what they say, and I’ve been able to put together 10 weeks’ worth of programs.”

Jane is a true inspiration for her determination to carry on with her vision against all odds and for her hard work. She had a first tough decision to make which was to invest on herself when she had no members. Well, it looks like it’s really paid off. In Jane’s words:

“This is an awesome program. And also, just a quick message for all those people sitting on the fence. This program is a must do.”

One thought on “How to Make Personal Training Your Full Time Job”

What a great post and story! I am just getting into the fitness lifestyle but i really want to make it a big part of my routine. this article gives me a lot of inspiration and motivation and the secrets are great! please keep it up

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